Category Archives: people

updated statement.

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it’s always such a struggle, but it feels so good when, for a little while anyway, you can feel confident in your artist’s statement.  g.m. told me the other day, “no one writes there artist’s statement alone.” what a relief!  he helped me out fundamentally, providing primary guidance, as well as other friends and artists, all of whom i respect a great deal.  getting feedback from a variety of people really helped A LOT. when i saw people’s responses i really got an idea of what was actually coming across in my words.

thanks SO MUCH to everyone who provided me with their feedback.

and if you haven’t read it yet, check it out here and let me know what you think.

notes from the studio.

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sorry for the rough pics.  they are from my phone.  anyway, i’m still plugging away in the studio.  the trip to florida, and working quite a bit has been keeping me away more than i would like, but that’s the way it goes. in addition to my regular job i’ve been doing something really fun and educational assisting a local artist.  so far we’ve installed a piece at the nceca invitiational and pulled some stuff out of storage, organized and packed up work.  it’s a really wonderful experience.  i’m learning a lot just seeing how she does things.

i’ve got some aps in the works, and a few deadlines coming up.  like every other  ceramic artist at the moment, i’m scurrying to finish up aps and wondering what i’ll be doing next fall.

in the studio i’ve been amassing some work, but i’m still really struggling with how to finish it.  i haven’t even bisqued any large sculptures yet.  i’m waiting for them to get super bone dry, but i’ve been keeping plastic on them for weeks.  i’m afraid to keep them uncovered and risk cracking.  and since i don’t know exactly how i’ll finish them i need them to be perfectly smooth.  ehhhhh, finished work…..sometime….eventually…….:-)

new sculpture in progress….

studio mate e. with her giant math mold……

anatomy of an installation.

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fauna installation.

this week i was honored to be part of a four person show curated by kara walker tome in west palm beach.  the show took place at the whitebox at the whitespace, the personal collection of west palm beach couple elayne and marvin mordes.

the space was mind blowing.  you enter from the back and walk into a beautiful, labyrinth of a museum-like space.  white walls and gray floors act as a backdrop to the fanciful and exciting collection of cutting edge contemporary 2D and 3D art including gilbert and george, frank gehry and gelatin (among many, many others).  one of the back walls actually turns on an axis point and allows access to the mordes’ home.  it’s totally wild.  a portion of the space has been used this season for a series of exhibitions featuring regional artists.  the last of the series, “approaching nature” opened on friday.

the very good company i was in consisted of ryan toth, rick newton and bethany krull.

on a warm and fuzzy note, i really could not have pulled off this installation with out tons of help from my friends (and a lot of cooperation and understanding from the curator.)  i flew in on wednesday, then second day of installation for the show.  a.w. my bestie, was in philly with me so we flew down together.  we got picked up by m.m. just in time for surprise brunch for 4 other friends who were in town.  the brunch graciously swelled to include us and we got to breakfast on home made eggs, greens, plantains, potatoes, tortilla’s and beans (yummmmm).

after that we headed to AAA sod and supply, my “sponsors” who helped me out with my crushed shell needs.  the owner there is such a cool guy.  he totally remembered me and asked after j.w. my partner in crime during the 2008 10 x 10 show (during which he gifted a van full of crushed shell and garden stones).  we then loaded up and headed to the whitespace.

installation went pretty well, we ran into a few snags but a.w. and j.g. were there helping out with heavy lifting and strategies.  i don’t think i could install a show with out a.w. lending her good eye and moral support.

of course all this running around was done in the car m.m. so lovingly lent.  a lot of other people where involved behind the scenes to make that happen (c.j., w.) and s.s. came out the day before the deliver my work to the space and i’ve been crashing on her super comfortable couch all week.  all this not even including everyone who came out to the show, or my new friend l.a. who i’ve been hanging with all week.

basically, i didn’t realize just how much would go into making this installation happen.  somewhere else i would have had to rent a car or truck, run around, hire an assistant (or something??)  but it feels really good to have so much support and encouragment from my friends.  it was highly tight, budget wise, for me to make it down here, and i really appreciate everyone who helped make it happen.  :- ) love love….

talking about working

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well, the big challenge of my new studio life is all this talking.  for me, talking, speculation, thinking out loud, comes naturally.  but i usually just try to keep my mouth shut when it comes to my work.  on the one hand, i’m not so confident talking about my work.  on the other, i do think there is a bit of fantasy in my work and i don’t want to give people words to hinge their interpretation on.

it’s about nature, and the nature of things.  ehhhhhh, blehh.

maybe this is something i should continue writing about.  we’ll see.  anyway, here are some shots red sent me of the shot glasses i made for the anagama firing before leaving florida.  hopefully soon i’ll get to post shots of all the lovely shot glasses i receive!

thanks red, for the sweet shots!

great day.

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it’s really weird not living 8 blocks from the studio.  i start my job (reproductive health clinic) tomorrow and my schedule is going to be something like thurs-sat.  so once i finished up some wall pieces and the sculpture i posted a pic of yesterday, i realized there wasn’t much point in starting anything else.  once i get accustomed to these train schedules (and it’s not so death-by-hypothermia cold) i might be able to swing nightly visits to the studio but for the time being i think my best bet might be to work on pieces start-to-finish sunday through wednesday.

today i went with new friend m.d. to visit a very well known local sculptor.  i’ll be working with her a few days in the next months prepping/installing work before and after NCECA.  her studio was beautiful.  seeing her work in person (in the gallery) and in different stages of completion (in the studio) was breathtaking.  her husband is also a well established sculptor and it was really inspiring to meet them both.  they were super friendly and chatty and asked lots of questions, which of course i kind of geeked out while answering.  (i.e. way too long description of the japanese alphabets…….) when i really would have like to hear more about them and their journey to where they are now.  hmmmm, well moving forward, i hope to get a little more insight.

new home

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i may have a snuggee for a curtain at the moment but i’m pretty much totally unpacked and moved into my sweet west philly apartment.  bg,  my new roommate met me at the train station and we squeezed all of my possessions into her spacious hatchback.

this is what i was working with.  sweet windows and nice floors.

everything is unpacked but some stuff still needs a place.  and i definitely need some sweet curtains for these tall windows.  in the meantime a few glimpses of my space…

shadow boxes with work and tchotchkes from all over.

bowl and saucer by sarah tancred, octopus rattle by kelly sullivan

mini wall piece by jamie bardsley

wall button by kelly sullivan

another wall button and one of my first art purchases, plate by lisa orr

first work of 2010

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am i turning over a new leaf?  no, not really, but i did delve into the new year making some functional work.  the residents at st. pete clay (and a few others) are doing a shot glass exchange.  i’m running around with a chicken with my head cut off with moving preparation and working as much as possible but i took a few hours on jan. 3rd to make some shot glasses.  you can’t really tell from the images but they are just a little bigger than a large shot glass.  i had to bring my operation inside to the kitchen counter because it was absolutely TOO cold to work outside.

the cups are currently roasting away in the annual anagama firing at the clay company.  visiting artists don reitz, matt long and john ballisteri are captaining the firing.  i was disappointed to have to be so much less involved than last year, but thems the breaks.  i signed up for a stoking shift on saturday with some of my favorite girls (wilson, marlena) and we were kicking it old skool around the anagama.  i have no idea what the p10 porcelain will look like wood fired, but hopfully it will be nice.  i even lined them with shop clear.  i felt like a real potter!

actually the kiln won’t be opened until after my departure for philadlephia, but i’ll happily await my first mail in philadlephia: a package of shot glasses from every resident 🙂

i have another shift coming up tuesday night which promises to busy and HOT and side-stoke-tastic.

it’s a bit of a bummer to be on the periphery of this exciting event, but what a nice way to say good bye!

the move is on…

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the above picture is of some tiny sculptures i call the saskunei seeds.  saskunei means “no worries” in the fukushima dialect of japanese.  in late 2007 i attended a sweet kiln workshop in mashiko, japan.  it was my first time to fire woodkilns and we fired 4 kilns in 4 days.  one of those kilns was the saskunei smokeless kiln built by kusakabe masakazu.  months later i would get to visit him at his studio in fukushima, two times and spend a couple of weeks there total.  while i was visiting his studio, i made the sculptures above.    pretty soon after that i returned to the united states for good.  on the way back i had a layover in atlanta, which i extended so i could visit my good friend and potter kelly sullivan.  she works over at an awesome studio/gallery mudfire and during the visit, i got to do some work there.  i made some monster sculptures and more of these little seeds, which she fired and glazed after i headed back to florida.  over one year later, on a trip up to bowling green, ohio, a friend and i stop in on her and after all this time i get to see the finished peices.  when i returned to my studio in st. pete, i decided to make a some more of these little guys, as favors for the folks who purchased work from my exhibition.  i’ve given a lot of them out as little gifts, but kept at least a few from each batch, and i’ll keep making them. 

which brings me to the next stop on this train line, philadelphia, pa.  i’ve “graduated” from my residency in st. pete and in january i’ll be moving up to philly.  i started this blog to write about the good times, struggles and process of the clay life and hopefully the next year will bring more to write about.

atomic

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ok, i literally took one picture the whole day.  i snapped this quick pic with the intention of going back for more but you know how it goes sometimes.

oh, wait no, there were two, liz and sarah aka femme covert’s fabulous wares.

we were crammed together pretty tight between the tables.  luckily robin from neckeds didn’t really mind when i touched her butt on accident.  speaking of butts, i think the best story of the day was when robin’s friend pointed out the sign i’d put on the group of these little sculptures:

the sign said “butt” seeds 3 for $15.  they were all like, “are those really for your butt?”  which totally shocked me.  because they are, you know, seeds WITH butts, not seeds FOR butts.

bottom line–aesthetically speaking i’m more about poop than sex so i changed the sign.  haha.